"Low threat level? Should be equivalent to the previous orange-red danger room, right?"
Li Zheng chewed on the Luoshen Flower, a look of disdain on his face, "When have I ever entered a danger room that wasn't of this level? Except for that time with the horror bats, I almost lost my life. If I go into another danger room, I'm a fool!"
Swallowing the last bite of breakfast, Li Zheng tidied up his things, already deciding that as long as there were safe rooms available, he would never set foot in a danger room again.
"Today's treasure chest has refreshed too. I'll grab the treasure chest first, then start today's exploration."
Li Zheng contacted the Treasure Chest System to draw today's random treasure chest.
[Drawing today's random treasure chest, please wait...]
"I wonder what quality of treasure chest I'll get today?" Li Zheng's eyes contained a hint of anticipation, "If I could draw something above Platinum Level, and get a treasure chest critical hit..."
[Draw successful, treasure chest quality: Gold Level, extract now?]
The notification of successful drawing interrupted Li Zheng's daydreaming.
"Just Gold?"
Li Zheng was a bit disappointed. After witnessing Platinum Level items, he was unimpressed even with a Golden Treasure Chest.
A typical case of inflated expectations.
"Gold is gold then."
Li Zheng pouted and silently thought to himself, "Extract!"
In the next moment,
"Thud!"
A fully golden chest landed in front of him, as if cast entirely from gold, shining brilliantly.
"Huh? Even Prelis' Eye can give information about the treasure chest now?"
Li Zheng looked at the treasure chest, somewhat astonished.
This phenomenon had never occurred before.
[Golden Treasure Chest, a chest cast entirely from gold.
It wasn't originally supposed to belong here, some unknown force xxxxxx information erased... caused xxxxxx information erased...
What you can obtain from it, perhaps you have an idea.
Just a reminder, we are unique.]
Because Prelis' Eye hinted at information it shouldn't have, the Golden Treasure Chest description was filled with garbled text, leaving Li Zheng puzzled.
"Unique? You all?"
Li Zheng pondered the meaning of these words, "Does it mean 'unique item'? The only one in The Matrix Survival Game?"
If that's the case, it indeed belongs to the "unique" category.
Not thinking much more about it, Li Zheng quickly refocused his attention on the treasure chest, eyes filled with anticipation, rubbing his hands.
"Honestly, this looks way better than Silver and Bronze ones, gods bless, let there be another treasure chest critical hit!"
Muttering under his breath, Li Zheng squatted down, lifted the chest lid, and reached inside.
[Obtained: Gene Potion Making Station (Basic Model) Blueprint*1]
[Obtained: Basic Gene Potion Recipe*1]
[Obtained: 500ml of Three-headed Ghost Lion's blood]
[Obtained: Analyzer*1]
[Obtained: 500g of Orichalcos]
[Obtained: 50 Intermediate Modules]
[Obtained: Power Core Type IV*1]
A series of notifications popped up, leaving Li Zheng bewildered at the unfamiliar item names.
"Could these all be Gold Level items?"
He fished out the "Gene Potion Making Station Blueprint" to take a look.
[Gene Potion Making Station (Basic Model) one-time blueprint, unique equipment, Gold Level
Can manufacture a basic model Gene Potion Making Station.
Required materials: Power Core Type IV*1, Analyzer*1, Intermediate Module*50, Basic Module*20, Parts*40, Iron Ingot*50, Tungsten Steel 500g, B25 Grade Manganese Steel 300g, Orichalcos 500g, Technology Core*1]
The required amount of materials made Li Zheng's scalp tingle, with a quick calculation, it's almost his entire stock!
"Damn! A mere Gold Level blueprint needs more materials than upgrading the Detector to Platinum Level?"
Li Zheng was speechless, "This is going to set me back to square one! Forget it!"
Causally tossing the USB into the pile of items, Li Zheng picked up another USB.
[Basic Gene Potion Recipe, unique item, Gold Level
Includes all Black Iron Level~Gold Level gene potion recipes, requires insertion into Gene Potion Making Station for reading and use.]
"Damn! They're a matched pair!"
Li Zheng silently picked up the USB he just threw away, looking longingly at the materials he spent two days gathering, finally gritting his teeth and closing his eyes.
"Craft!"
Swish!
The capsule dwelling instantly cleared a large area, the capacity indicator on Prelis' Eye representing the dwelling's capacity instantly jumped from 20% to 85%.
At this moment, Li Zheng felt his heart aching.
"If the resulting item doesn't meet expectations after painstakingly gathering materials..."
[Gene Potion Making Station (Basic Model) crafting completed, please designate placement location.]
The system prompt came, and Li Zheng arranged the remaining items in the capsule dwelling to one side, then opened the system interface to place the station.
Bang!
The Gene Potion Making Station landed, instantly taking up nearly half the space within the dwelling.
[Remaining space in capsule dwelling: 35%]
"Damn it!"
Li Zheng was stunned, the thing used up materials like crazy, and the final product was also astonishingly large in size!
"Looks like I might not have a place to sleep tonight..."
"Ying ying."
Xiao Ying curiously glanced at the station, turned around to pick up the fiber bundle it had been hugging for two days, fluttered to the top of the machine.
Placing down the fiber bundle, it patted it with its little paws to make it fluffier, then laid on top, looking quite content.
"....."
Li Zheng stared at it, silent for a moment, "This cleverness, just like me!"
"Ying ying!"
Xiao Ying peeked out from the machine, making a face at Li Zheng.
"Hehe."
Li Zheng ignored Xiao Ying's mockery, studied the station carefully, and figured out how to use it after some fiddling.
The machine resembled a blood cell analyzer used in hospitals, with a touchscreen on one side and five USB slots for loading potion recipes.
On the other side, a metal disc extended from the machine's edge, with ten evenly distributed small circular holes.
"This should be where the materials go, judging by the size..."
Li Zheng rummaged through his things, taking out a small crystal bottle, the purple viscous liquid inside swaying with its motion.
[Blood of the Three-headed Ghost Lion, Gold Level, Material
Extracted from the Gold Level gene organism, Three-headed Ghost Lion, directly consuming it can enhance the player's Physique.
Tastes fishy, bitter.]
Li Zheng walked to the disc and placed the Crystal Bottle on it. It fit perfectly, just enough to slot into the small circular hole.
"This bottle is fifty milliliters. I saw other blood materials in the trading hall before, and it seems the standard volume is also in these fifty-milliliter Crystal Bottles."
Li Zheng was curious about the effects of the Genetic Potion, so he operated the touchscreen and inserted a USB drive with the formula into it.
Soon, four potion formula categories appeared on the touchscreen: Cell Vitality Potion, Bone Strength Potion, Muscle Strength Potion, Nerve Reaction Potion.
These corresponded exactly to the four Physique Attributes given by Prelis' Eye.
Additionally, there were several UI buttons: Intake/Eject, Analyze, Make.
"Intake."
He pressed the button, and the disc was pulled into the machine, soon the "Analyze" button lit up.
"Analyze."
After thirty seconds of operation, the touchscreen displayed the types of materials and matching potion formulas.
[Materials Intaken: Three-headed Ghost Lion Blood 50ml
Matching...
Matching Successful.
Matching Result: Cell Vitality Potion (Gold Level) requires more materials, Muscle Strength Potion (Gold Level) requires more materials]
"Lacking materials?"
Li Zheng frowned slightly and clicked on the drop-down menu under materials.
Soon, an extensive list of materials unfolded. To make Gold Level potions, he would need to gather at least eight different materials, all of Gold Grade.
"..."
After a moment of silence, Li Zheng resolutely spat out one word: "Damn!"
"Eject!"
The disc slowly extended out, and Li Zheng took the Three-headed Ghost Lion Blood off it, going back to categorize and store it properly.
"I remember... there was still a bottle of Horror Bat Blood before, right?"
He rummaged through the pile of materials, finally holding up a bottle, "Found it! Good thing I kept it at the time, thinking it might come in handy when I'm short on water."
Now it's actually come to use!
"Let's try the potion formula corresponding to Horror Bat Blood."
He inserted the blood and operated the machine, awaiting the analysis.
A moment later, the list matched up fully.
[Materials Intaken: Horror Bat Blood 50ml
Matching Result: Cell Vitality Potion (Black Iron Level), Nerve Reaction Potion (Black Iron Level)
Materials sufficient, can be made.]
"It only needs a single material to make it?"
Li Zheng was pleasantly surprised to find that the "Make" button on the UI had already lit up.
"Make it for me!"
Choosing the "Nerve Reaction Potion," Li Zheng pressed the make button without hesitation.
...
Thirty seconds later, the disc popped out again, and the touchscreen displayed: [Potion Creation Complete]
Li Zheng looked at the disc, now completely empty, not only was the blood gone, but even the Crystal Bottle had disappeared.
On the opposite side of the disc, a window popped open, and a mechanical arm extended a test tube-like container.
In the test tube, a tube of pink liquid undulated slightly and then settled calmly.
[Nerve Reaction Potion, Black Iron Level, Genetic Potion
Drinking by player or pet can slightly enhance reaction speed.
Enhancement limit is Black Iron Level++]
"Let's see how it works."
Confident in the safety of items produced by the Treasure Chest System, Li Zheng tilted his head back and poured the entire potion into his mouth.
"Why is it sweet again!"
After tasting it, Li Zheng was annoyed.
Ever since drinking that bottle of basic Concentrated Nutrient Liquid when he entered The Matrix, he hadn't liked sweet things; this is already the third day, and aside from trying one once, he hadn't eaten even one Honey Fruit.
The reason he didn't take it out for trade earlier was that a single Honey Fruit had more weight than the Luoshen Flower, making it a bit of a loss if traded.
The potion was quickly digested, and a strange energy dispersed through Li Zheng's body in an instant.
"Is that...it?"
Li Zheng looked down at his body but felt no different.
Clenched fist.
No increase in strength.
Poked his skin.
Still not tougher.
Looked up at Xiao Ying.
That's when Li Zheng noticed something unusual.
Xiao Ying was rolling around joyfully in the fiber ball, a few strands of fiber fell from the top of the machine, and Li Zheng instinctively reached out to catch them.
His arm moved through the air, causing the fibers to flutter, swaying gently.
Whoosh!
Li Zheng's hand changed direction mid-air, skillfully grabbing the swaying fibers.
"This..."
He opened his hand; the strands of fiber stuck to his skin.
"Did I really catch them?"
He had caught the fibers almost the instant they were lifted.
This kind of maneuver, before drinking the potion, although possible, was never that clean and swift.
"Is this the effect of the Genetic Potion? Just Black Iron Level, and the effect is so obvious. What if I drink a tube of Gold Level?"
Li Zheng suddenly felt that using the materials was totally worth it!
"Xiao Ying, let's go."
He called Xiao Ying, who crawled out of the fiber ball and flew into Li Zheng's pocket.
Good thing Li Zheng had bought casual clothes with large pockets; otherwise, the slightly grown Xiao Ying wouldn't fit.
Even so, his clothes' pocket was bulging with the little guy inside.
"Ying Ying."
Xiao Ying had to poke its little head out, resting at the pocket's opening.
"Cherish this time." Li Zheng patted its little head and walked out of the capsule residence, "Maybe by tomorrow, you won't fit in this pocket anymore, and then you'll have to find another way."
After packing up the capsule residence, Li Zheng headed towards the metal door, which housed a Bronze Level creature.
He came to the door, swiped a card, and the door opened.
Li Zheng took a deep breath, then shouted, "I'm an idiot!"
Lifted his foot, went through the door.